Apparatus for manufacturing illuminating-mantles.



No. 761,715. PATENTE'D JUNE 7. 1904.

J. I. ROBIN. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING ILLUMINATING MANTLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

.-2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 761,715. PATENTED JUNE 7, 1904'.

I v v J. I. ROBIN. w APPARATUS .FOR MANUFACTURING ILLUMINATING MANTLES.

I APPLICATION IILED JUNE 17, 1903 v v v I N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-B31121? 2.

UNITED STATES Patented June 7", 1904:.

JACOB ISAK ROBIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING ILLUMINATING-MANTLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 761,715, dated June '7, 1904.

I Application filed June 17, 1903. Serial No. 161,827. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known thatI, JACOB IsAK ROBIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State .of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Manufacturing Illuminating-Mantles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a'full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to amechanical device-for use in manufacturing incandescent illuminating-mantles for gas-burners, and has for its object to provide an arrangement of this character for stretching and imparting to the mantle the fixed cylindrical form desired in the completed article.

At one step in the operation of making mantles the mantle fabric is drawn down over a suitable former and stretched by hand manipulation. This is the practice generally followed at the present time; but this method is faulty and presents numerous objections, the principal one being that the hand-pressure cannot be made uniform, and therefore the mantle or knitted fabric is unevenly stretched, the knitted ridges or seams presenting a drawn out-of-shape appearance. .The hand operation is also slow, as the hands must be closed around the mantle and its form and drawn downwardly a number of times until the operation is completed. Another great objection is that the perspiration absorbed from the hands has an injurious effect on the delicate mantle fabric, especially so if the thread has been subjected to a chemical treatment before the operation of knitting. In either case the perspiration from the hand manipulation will have the effect of lessening the illuminating qualities.

The principal object, therefore, of this invention is to obviate these and other objections and at the same time provide a better article with increased illuminating power than it is possible to produce under the ordinary arrangements.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine embodying the improved features. Fig. 2 is a front elevation. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3, Fig. 4, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow; and Fig. 4 is a horizontal plan section on line 4, Fig. 3.

A represents a supporting-frame standard of the contour shown and which is rigidly mounted on a base B. A socket-piece C is bolted to the base B and located under and in line with the overhanging front part of the frame A, as shown. The lower end of a mandrel or former D is loosely inserted in the socket-piece C. This mandrel is cylindrical and of a uniform diameter from the lower end upward to a shoulder 5 and of a conical taperingcontour from the shoulder upward to the terminal spherical end 6. The mandrel will usually be of wood, as that material seems to be well adapted for the purpose; but any other 7 suitable material may be used.

Before being placed upon the mandrel the upper end of the mantle E is drawn into the usual contracted neck form 7 and looped to a peg 8, which holds the mantle in place and prevents the neck end from expanding and slipping down when the stretching setting pressure is applied.

A tubular plunger 9 is located in line with the mandrel and normally stands in the position indicated in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. This position will permit of the mandrel being raised high enough to free the lower end from its socket and taken out when necessary. The plunger has a vertical movement and is provided on opposite sides with guide-ribs 10,

engaging corresponding grooves 11 in the frame, and is held in place by the removable cap-plates 12.

The fulcrum end of a hand-lever 13 is pivoted to a supporting-arm 14, as at a. One end of a link 15 is pivoted to the lever, as at b, and the other end to the upper end of the plunger, asat 0?. One end of a chain 16 is attached to the operating-lever, a counterweight (not shown) being supported from the other end and serves to automatically return the plunger to its normal position when the hand-pressure on the lever is relaxed.

After the mantle to be stretched and given its fixed commercial form is placed on the mandrel an elastic close-fitting ring 17 is slipped on from the upper end and comes to a stop bearing on the exterior surface of the mantle at a point below the upper end of the mandrel in accordance with the diameter of the opening in the elastic ring and the exact point at which the stretching setting pressure on the mantle is to begin. In the drawings the elastic ring is shown as having gravitated to about the longitudinal center of the mantle; but the exact point at which the ring will begin to have a bearing pressure may be Varied in accordance with the requirements of practical working.

The elastic ring will be preferably made of rubber; but any substance possessing the proper degree of resiliency may be substituted. The ring will have a continuous circumferential bearing on the mantle fabric and stretch the same evenly, so that when removed from the mandrel it will retain the form given it and stand upright and not collapse, as is the case when stretched by hand.

By a proper movement of the hand-lever the plunger is moved downward and coming in contact with the ring forces the same down and eficcts the desired operation of stretching and setting. The ring drops free when the shoulder on the mandrel is reached and may then be removed from the lower end.

It will be understood that one or more rings may be placed in position at the same time, covering a larger surface and having an improved efi'ect in the operation of stretching.

I claim 1. In adevice for making incandescent mantles for gas-burners, a tapering mandrel, fitting the interior of a mantle. in combination with an expansible part, fitting the mandrel at all points of its circumference, and means for moving the said part downward on the said mandrel so as to draw the mantle thereon and fit it thereto substantially as set forth.

2. In a device for making incandescent mantles for gas burners, a tapering mandrel, adapted to fit the interior of a mantle, in combination with an expansible elastic ring fitting the said mandrel and the mantle thereon and in contact with every point of the circumference of the latter, the expansibility of elasticity of the said ring permitting this contact to continue at all points as the ring descends toward the base of the said mandrel, in stretching it over the latter and fitting it thereto substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with a tapering mandrel,

an expansible elastic ring fitting thereon. and a down\vardly-moving part, adapted to press on said ring and move it down over the mandrel, for drawing an incandescent mantle thereon and shaping the same the said ring continuing to fit the former atall points of its circumference substantially as set forth.

L. In combination with a tapering mandrel, an expansible elastic ring fitting thereon. a reciprocating part arranged for con tact with the said ring, and means for actuating the said part to force said ring down toward the base of the said mandrel, for drawing an incandescent mantle thereon and shaping the same the said ring continuing to fit the said mandrel at all points of its circumference substantially as set forth.

5. In combination with a tapering mandrel, an expansible elastic ring fitting the same, a vertically-movable part also surrounding the said mandrel above the said ring and means for forcing the said part down on all parts of the said ring, thereby moving the said ring down toward the base of the said mandrel, drawing the mantle on the latter and shaping it thereto substantially as set forth.

6. In a device of the kind described, a mandrel gradually increasing in diameter from one end to the other and adapted to hold the knitted tubular fabric, an elastic ring closely oncircling the mandrel and exerting a uniform pressure on the surface of the fabric and means for mechanically forcing said ring in a longitudinal direction in stretching and setting the commercial form of the article, substantially as set forth.

7. In adevice of the kind described, a man drel, the contour of which corresponds to the form to be presented in the finished mantle, an elastic ring closely fitting the contour of the mandrel and uniformly compressing and stretching the mantle fabric held thereon, a tubular plunger normally supported above said mandrel. and means for imparting a downward niovem ent to said plunger in forcing said ring over the surface of the fabric in setting the form of the mantle product, substantiall as set forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JACOB ISAK ROBIN.

\Vitnesses:

ABRAHAM l'lnnsnon'rz, ALBERT F. BROWN. 

